London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A new initiative to boost research and improve the health of the nation has launched. Two of London’s world renowned universities, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and UCL (University College London), are academic partners in the newly established National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research in England.

Funding of £20m over a five year period from NIHR will allow the new School to undertake research to increase the evidence base for effective public health practice by increasing the amount and quality of applied public health research, and creating an environment for first class research focused on the needs of the public.

This work will build on an already impressive track record by the two universities in applied UK public health research. Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have recently shown that introducing 20mph traffic zones in London have led to considerable reductions in road injuries, especially to children ¹; that centrally managed thermostats in social housing can reduce scalding injuries in Camden ²; and shown how local support to stop smoking can effectively be tailored to the particular needs of different age groups and ethnicities ³.

Karen Lock, Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for us to ensure that the public can benefit fully from the latest well conducted research. Such a significant national research collaboration will be an important catalyst for working with colleagues in public health and Local Authorities to ensure that the evidence of what works is available to policy makers who can do most about it.”

An initial project from UCL will model the relationship between workplace layout and physical activity, which will act as a tool to test office building layouts at design stage in relation to their potential for activity generation. This will provide practical guidance for designers and organisations about the features that assist in creating work environments that encourage physical activity.

Anne Johnson, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at UCL, said: “We are absolutely delighted to become a member of the School. This is an excellent opportunity to undertake cutting-edge research to tackle the big issues in public health with other leading academic centres. Significant changes in how public health is being managed in England are currently underway, so there could not be a more important time for a strategic and long-term programme of work that tackles translational research. We look forward to working closely with the other members and practitioners in Local Authorities and across public health.”

The new school will work with all those who can contribute to better health in London, including local government – whose role in public health has expanded following the government’s NHS reforms – civil society, and the public.

References:
¹ Grundy C, Steinbach R, Edwards P, Green J, Armstrong B, Cairns J, and Wilkinson P. (2009) Effect of 20 mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London, 1986-2006:  controlled interrupted time series analysis British Medical Journal 339 b4469 doi:10.1136/bmj.b4469#

¹ Steinbach R, Grundy C, Edwards P, Wilkinson P and Green J. (2011) The impact of 20mph traffic speed zones on inequalities in road casualties in London. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health  65: 921-26 (doi:10.1136/jech.2010.112193)

² Edwards P, Durand MA, Hollister M, Green J, Lutchmun S, Kessel A, Roberts I. (in press) Scald risk in social housing can be reduced through thermostatic control system without increasing Legionella risk: a cluster randomised trial Archives of Diseases in Childhood  Doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2011-300606

³ Karen Lock, Eike Adams, Paul Pilkington, Kathryn Duckett, Anna Gilmore, Cicely Marston (2010). Evaluating social and behavioural impacts of English smokefree legislation in different ethnic and age groups: implications for reducing smoking-related health inequalities Tobacco Control  2 August 2010 doi:10.1136/tc.2009.03231

(Image: London Eye and Thames. Credit: LSHTM)